{"sf1_id":875358,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Adventures of Peter Gray Chapter 16: Fun in the Sun","author":"Domus Vocis","words":2089,"posted_at":"2015-06-19T16:11:00.000Z","tags":["Adolescent","Anime and Manga","Anthro","Anthropomorphic","Canine","Character Development","City","Comedy","Compassion","Cub (clean)","Feline","First Person","Five Points","Friendship","Girl","Heat","Human","Humiliation","Humor","Hybrid","Illustrated","Multiple Species","New York","New York City","No-Yiff","Personal Redemption","Plot Development","Puberty","Public","Raccoon","School","Series","Shoes","Short Story","SoFurry","Story Progression","Story Series","Street urchin","Teasing","Wolf","adorable","boy","grinning","homeless","hydrant","innocence","joykill","landscape","laugh","paw","teen","water"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/875358-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-16-fun-in-the-sun","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/875358","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=875358\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"Chapter\n16\nFun\nin the Sun\n          Ah, I loved\nsummer more than anything. I loved it more than Joseph's bagels, more than\nseeing a bully look at me like a hunter that can't hunt its rabbit in a meadow,\nand more than a cub with a chocolate birthday cake the size of Mrs. Flint and Rhode\nIsland!\n          \"Lord, it is\nhot!\" I moaned alongside Lancie and James. \nIt had to be a million degrees\noutside and hot as the sun inside James' place. The Mr. and Mrs. were out doing\nsome shopping at the marketplace and told us to keep an eye on Annabelle while\nthey were gone.\nUnfortunately, she was\ncomplaining more about the scorching heat than the three of us were. James did\nhis best to keep her calm, me and Lancie the raccoon were stooped in the\nkitchen chairs, tails resting on the floor, arms flailing to our sides, and\ntongues panting heavily.\nFor being made of brick and wood, this feels like a metal\nfurnace!\nI thought tiredly. Me fur felt sticky, and I started using me tail to cool\nmeself like a Chinese fan.\n\"I'm hot, Jamie! I'm\nhot, Jamie! Jamie!\" the young human girl whined while jumping on the floor.\n\"I'm thirsty!\"\nDon' worry, Annabelle.\nMama and Papa are getting things to cool us down right now. Don't worry,\" James\ncooed and calmed her down. He motioned fer her to go play in her room with her\ndolly, and James used one of his eyes to watch her while his other lazily\nlooked back at us on the chair. \"Do you both remember when I met ya two in\nJanuary, and it was really cold?\"\nI nodded. \"And it were\ncolder than the Presser Lessor's heart, and I were freezing to death?\" I asked\nwith a panting chuckle. James and Lancie wordlessly agreed and I giggled while\nwiping me brow. \"Yeah, I'm missing that already...\" I stuck me tongue out, and\npanting fer about several seconds, or was it several minutes? I didn't know or\ncare fer me sanity's sake.\n\"Why do you do that\nanyway?\" James asked after a while.\nMe and Lance's ears\nperked up at James across the table. \"Huh?\" Lance asked with confusion. \"What\nwas that, Jamie?\"\n\"Why do you do that?\"\nhe asked again, this time pointing at us. \"Why do you stick your tongues out\nlike that?\"\n\"We pant to cool\nourselves down James,\" Lance spoke while panting his tongue out in between.\n\"Didn't ya learn that all these months here?\"\nJames shrugged weakly,\nand wiped his forehead again. \"I was busy with other things,\" he said lowly.\n\"Like running from bullies and...studying.\" Me and Lancie chuckled at his lie.\nHowever, I perked me\nears and turned to James at the bullying part. \"Minus Gavin now, thanks to me\nJames,\" I grinned with a swishing tail. \"Don't worry about him now. He's good.\"\nI hoped. Ever since me and Gavin were chased by his former goons, the 'yote's\nlaid low fer a while, so I didn't know if we were friends or not.  \nJames was about to say\nsomething, but he just laid back and sighed heavily at the heat. Lord, why are ya mocking me and me friends? I\nthought while looking up.\nThe human boy across\nfrom me and the raccoon wiped his brow and breathed out. \"I always thought it\nwere for comic relief?\" James said with a chuckle.\nI giggled like a ninny,\nsoon saying, \"Nah that's also when we're after a pretty vixen, James.\"\nThe three of us laughed\nat that fer a while, and went back to moaning about the heat and trying to find\nways to survive Mother Nature's angry wrath.\nFinally, Laura and Mr.\nLawton came back with groceries in their hands and news as great as when they invented\ncookies. They saw a vendor down the street selling ice cream sodas at a shop.\nThat caused me, James, and Lancie to jump from our seats and beg Laura fer\nmoney as she prepared fer lunch.\n\"Can we get ourselves\nsome cream sodas, Mommy?\" James asked with closed hands and an iccocent look\nthat'd compete with mine. \"Mommy?\"\nLaura turned to us\nexpressionless, staring as Mr. Lawton said across the room, \"What's the magic\nword, James?\"\n\"Please, Mommy? We're\nso hot here...\" James asked again.\n\"And starving Mrs.\nLawton,\" Lancie added with a wag of his bushy tail.\nLaura sighed and\nreached into a nearby jar on the shelf. \"One soda costs a dime, so you get\nthirty cents,\" she was about to hand the coins to our shaking paws, but pulled\nback to add another dime, \"and you'll be getting another one for Annabelle.\"\nShe handed it to us, and we happily hugged Laura generously.\nAs I got to the door, I\nslyly placed me dime into me right pocket and innocently turned to Laura. \"Uh,\nMrs. Lawton?\" I asked in a sad voice. \"I lost me dime, so can I have another?\" \nLaura turned to me and\nsmiled. \"Sure Peter,\" the human woman graciously nodded and twirled her back at\nme, \"when you pay Mr. Joseph Kinnick's bakery tab first.\" \nI gasped at her\nstatement with a curled tail, and folded me ears in defeat before stomping\noutta the apartment to join me friends outside.\nLike this morning,\nfursons and humans were doing their best to stay outta the light, relishing\nunder shade and when a cloud passed by the sun. A few wolf kits whined and\ndragged their tails around with their mother about the ear, and a couple tigers\nand mixed foxes in worker's clothes puffed alongside a carriage. \n\"I'm so thirsty me\nthroat is turning into the Grand Canyon, mother!\" one of the cubs pulled at his\nmum's dress. \"Mother, I'm thirsty.\"\n\"Quiet, Justin...\" the\nshe-wolf mumbled while panting in the heat. \"Mummy is too hot to argue now, so\nplease keep it down.\"\n          It weren't\nso good fer the humans we saw either in the neighborhood. One man was so hot\nthat he came outta a nearby street sweaty and wet as a swimmer in the dirty\nHudson, and another darker-skinned one fainted with two sacks of grain on his\nshoulders. \nOur human companion was\ncomplaining as well, almost too well.\n\"I'm so hot it feels like I'm inside a furnace...\" James complained behind us. \n          Lancie and I\nlooked at each other and smirked at James. \"Yer not the one with fur on ya,\nJames,\" we spoke at once with chuckles.\n          James wiped\nhis brow of sweat. \"Shut up,\" he moaned as we kept walking.\n          At last, we\nmade it to the vendor selling the ice cream. Along a busy intersection was a\nyoung wolf with mangy fur, next to him a large ice box and an assortment of\nthings to make ice cream sodas, such as cones, milk, and toppings galore. As me\nhope went up to cooling down, it fell to the earth like a dead bird at seeing how\nlong the line was. It had to stretch about a mile.\n          The vendor\nturned to us while handing a soda to the next customer. \"Wait in line, boys!\"\nthe smug wolf looked at our human friend with a grimace and mumbled at James,\n\"Ya too pinkie.\" \n          As me went\ndown the line, I turned to a frowning James. \"Flea-ridden mongrel,\" he mumbled,\nthen whispered to me, \"No offense to you Peter.\"\nI grinned. \"None taken,\nJamie.\" Me tail wagged at how my little human was growing up with his own\nopinion.\n          We finally\ngot to the end of the line (after walking another two minutes down the road,\nthen waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.\nAnd waited until me tail hurt wagging! \"Can ya hurry up, fellas?\" I\ncalled out to the wolf down the line. \"Me grandkits are having grandkits while\nme clothes are turning into antiques!\"\nEveryone in line laughed at me\njoke, but the wolf gave me a stare hard enough to turn me into a stone statue.\nSo we waited, and waited, and waited. By the time me, James, and Lancie got in\nfront, our fur would be burned to a crisp!\n          I turned to\nme friends and got their attention. \"I got meself an idea friends, to make the\nline shorter\" I whispered with a grin. I handed me dime to Lance and said, \"Be\nsure to buy me one Lancie, or I'll be madder than a rattlesnake.\"\n          \"Sure thing,\nPeter.\" \n          I jumped\noutta line (to everyone's sweaty surprise) and made a run fer the other end of\nthe street, to the side with the most amount of fursons scurrying around. When\neveryone from the long line turned back to face the vendor, and I leaned back\nagainst a nearby street building around the corner, I shouted at the top of me\nvoice and with all me might...\n          \"Coppers!\"\n          With the\nsnap of me fingers, half of the street and line were running outta the place\nlike the cotties plagued the cobblestone roads. I couldn't help but giggle like\na ninny again until me sides hurt and I were lying on the hot ground with a flicking\ntail. By the time I composed meself, I looked 'round the corner to see me\nimpressive work.\n          \"Wait! Wait,\nstop!\" \n          Gone.\nEveryone, including the vendor, was as gone as a criminal after hearing that\nthe police were coming. Me jaw dropped like a heavy stone, and me tail curled\nup when I saw the looks on James and Lance's faces.\n          \"Eh he he...\"\nI laughed nervously. I really messed up this time, and the scowl across Lance's\nmuzzle didn't help either, nor did James. \"Well, gimme credit fer making sure\nwe weren't being swindled by a robber, right?\"\n          \"Peter you\nidiot,\" James tried to growl, but couldn't as a human. \"Now how are we gonna\nget cooled down in this heat?!\" \n          Still\nfeeling the sun pound on me noggin' like a nun's yardstick, I weakly shrugged.\n\"I dunno Jamie,\" I gasped, \"but yer voice is starting to crack.\"\n          \"I ain't\nworried about my throat, Peter; I'm worried about Annabelle when she finds out\nshe can't get an ice cream soda.\"\n          We all\nshuddered at the thought of imagining Annabelle's tantrum. The little girl once\ngot into a tantrum fer losing her dolly a week ago, and Lord knew what she'd\nsay now. She'd probably cry loud enough fer people in New Jersey to hear us.\n          I folded me\nears and turned to James and Lance with a twitching tail. \"I said I was sorry\nguys,\" I whined. \"Anything I can do?\"\n          With a wipe\nof his brows, James grinned and whispered something into the raccoon sweltering\nnext to him. Lancie's eyes widened, and they looked at me funny. \"Say Lance, do\nyou think chasing after Peter will cool us down?\" he asked. \n          \"Let's try\nJames,\" Lancie grinned. \n          I froze. \"Aw\ndonkey-mutts!\" \n          I turned the\nother direction and ran fer the hills with the raccoon and human boy behind me.\nActually, the hills were Five Points and it got me wondering why everyone liked chasing me?!\n          At first, I expected\nthis to go on forever like the last time I got chased, but a wonderful surprise\nappeared outta an alleyway. And by surprise, I mean a miracle better than an\nice cream soda as massive as me luck!\n          .Some\nbrilliant loon broke a water hydrant cap down the street and making the place\nrain cool, heavenly water everywhere, with kits and cubs laughing and dancing\naround it like Indians.\n          At the\nsight, I felt me knees weak as I clasped me paws together.\n          \"Peter are\nya alright?\" James noticed me gesture. \"Ya hurt yer knees?\"\n          I craned me\nneck and happily shook me muzzle while laughing like a lunatic. \"Nah, I'm\nthanking the Lord!\" I laughed before jumping up and running fer it. \"Race ya\ntwo!\" \n          \"No fair,\nPeter!\"\n          \"Peter, wait\nup!\"\n          At long\nlast, the three of us cooled down and bathed our fur in water. We splashed at\nother cubs, other cubs threw water at our muzzles, the rest of the block arrive\nalong with Annabelle, and I got meself an extra dime in me pocket.\n          \"Peter\ndear,\" Laura called far away, \"may I have that ten cents back?\" ","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/871439-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-15-a-day-with-gavin.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/881599-the-adventures-of-peter-gray-chapter-17-the-4th-of-july.json"}